The other day, I was enjoying lunch with a family friend. Dee, is a retired school teacher. The subject centered on the off year election. Our city had only one thing on the ballot, an issue which was going to increase our property taxes and build a new school and a rec. center, where the children could hold their band concerts, choir recitals, and plays. “It’s only a $300 per year increase in your taxation,” he informed me. I answered that it was $300 per assessed $100,000 in home value according to the county. I stated further that I did not wish to get into the discussion of whether I was for or against the levy, but that I felt it important to at least get the facts right before debating. The levy failed, and failed big. One of the truly interesting things about this vote struck me. All of the signs around town were in support of it. At every school event, there were at least 15 minutes of propaganda time allotted for campaigning. Of the teachers who campaigned for this issue hard in each of their class rooms, most do not live in this city. The county auditors assessment of how much a house is worth is completely independent of the market conditions, or fair appraisals of the home. The people of America in general are tired of being assaulted by tax collectors and not seeing anything of value in exchange for their money, and they are especially sick of it during hard economic times.
Then I read something yesterday, and it really ticked me off. Half of the population of Detroit is functionally illiterate. Of the 47% of Detroit residents who can not read, half of them hold Detroit City School System diplomas. All of them made it past the elementary school years, where basic reading is taught. Detroit spends $13,000 per year on its students, and is one of the top spending school districts in the country. So, where is the money going? At $13,000 per year per student, it costs more to not educate a child in Detroit than it does to send him to attend The Ohio State University. The college figure, while it does not include books and lab fees, it does include room and board in one of the Universities fine dormitories.
During his Presidency, the 1970’s version of Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, created the department of education. A brand spanking new federal bureaucracy who’s sole purpose was to make sure that our public education system did not regress to this point. How has it done? Detroit is not alone. Liberals will bring up our need to educate our children during every election. The claim will be made that the evil Republicans want to prevent the children from learning how to read and write. They have argued that taking away from the department of Education will cause children to be living in the street and puppy dogs to die. I think this latest news points out that taking away from the Department of Education will serve to limit the amount of mischief they are able to get into. Ending the Department of Education will put an end to that mischief entirely.
Here is the truth of the matter, what ever is being extorted for the purposes of public education is not going towards educating anybody. It is all a giant federally approved money laundering scheme which has succeeded only in the endeavor of enriching the unions that run the show, and the politicians who have supported the fiasco. At $13,000 per year, the good children of Detroit should be college bound, and not unable to fill out a job application. At $13,000 per year, we here in America are being robbed by those same politicians and union thugs who continually accuse us all of being puppy killers.
Crossposted at Musings of a Mad Conservative.
